Original Shed says 'thank you' with free ShedHed Blues Fest

Don’t panic: The ribs still taste the same at the original Shed Barbecue & Blues Joint in Ocean Springs. It’s the recipe for the venue’s annual ShedHed Blues Fest that’s changing this year, and odds are you’ll like it: The new formula features 100 percent less ticket price.

As in, it’s free.

The music starts as gates open at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22, and with 15 bands on the bill, it’ll go on all day long. “It’ll be over when it’s over,” said Shed family matriarch Linda Orrison, estimating that the proceedings probably would end about midnight.

There’s no admission charge. There’s no charge for parking on-site or at the Coca-Cola plant on Highway 57, from which a shuttle will run. And if that’s not enough “free” for you, The Shed also is offering a swap meet and a barbecue competition, neither of which has an entry fee.

“We’re going to have a swap meet for the people,” Orrison said. “Anyone who wants to sell anything. Anything other than food or beverage, because that’s the only way we’re going to make enough money to pay for the bands. But for free, they don’t have to pay us a penny to set up, that’s another gift to them.” (For more details on the swap meet and competition, visit www.theshedbbq.com.)

Why so much free? Over the past eight years, the ShedHed Fest has regularly drawn 2,000 to 3,000 people. Ticket prices have been in the $25 range, with notable headliners such as Buddy Guy and Percy Sledge.

The answer, Orrison said, has to do with the kind of year The Shed has had. The Shed, a successful restaurant that has spawned franchises in Mobile and other Gulf Coast cities, was all but destroyed by a fire in February.

The Orrison family kept it going, using their mobile kitchen, and were soon the recipients of a tidal wave of generosity. Other restaurateurs loaned equipment; supporters donated lumber.

“I mean, we had people donate building supplies in Mobile, at the Lowe’s there, anonymously,” Orrison said. “And then we would get a call from the Lowe’s in Mobile and other places over in Alabama just saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got some building material for you here, if you can’t come we’ll deliver it.’”

In the beginning, Orrison’s son Brad had decorated the joint with an eclectic collection of junk found through his Dumpster-diving hobby. Now fans contributed tons of knickknacks to help create the funky vibe.

“We still get stuff in the mail every day,” Orrison said. “License tags, crazy junk to hang up, it’s beautiful. The other day I walked up and there was a tuba sitting on the front porch.”

The fire wasn’t the year’s only trial. Hurricane Isaac partially swamped the property. “We’ve been fightin’ fires and floods and we’re waiting for the locusts to come through,” Orrison said.

She said that having rebounded with the help of so many people, she and her family feel like “we’re kind of on the giving side of life again, instead of on the receiving. It’s tough to be on the receiving, but you appreciate it.”

“We decided that this year instead of just making it the ninth ever ShedHed Blues Festival that it’s going to be the ninth-ever Blues Festival and ShedHed Family Reunion. And we’ve invited people from all over the country.”

“We decided to do it for free,” she said.

This year’s acts might not boast the universal name recognition of Guy and Sledge, Orrison said, but they’re family. Acts such as Grayson Capps, T-Bone Pruett and Kenny Brown are “people who have been playing at The Shed for all these years,” she said.

Returning fans who haven’t visited since the fire will find a place that looks different too. Orrison said she hopes someday to recreate the original Shed, but in the meantime rebuilding has proceeded in a appropriately haphazard manner.

“Now the new Shed stretches from the Bayou all the way up to Highway 57,” she said. “It looks just like a Shed shantytown. And people are getting very attached to it.”

She said the ShedHed vibe hearkens back to a more comfortable time.

“So many festivals today have been gobbled up by these huge production companies,” she said. “We’re just the little guy that’s putting on an old-school, down-to-earth festival.”

And, again, it’s free. That’s no gimmick, just a way of saying “thank you.”

“I’ve learned something over the years too, if you give to get, you don’t get,” she said. “If you give to give, things always come back to you tenfold. It truly does.”